High school can be tough for many people. Those four years can shape your outlook on life and your future in very dramatic ways. Luckily for me, I had a very positive high school experience. I loved almost every minute that I spent in those halls with some of the best people I know. This is not to say that I did not have bad experiences as well, but the good definitely outweighed the bad. Much of the positivity of my high school experience came from Mr. LaChapelle, my favorite teacher and role model.
Mr. LaChapelle, or simply Lach, as most of us called him, first came into my life freshman year as my computer programming teacher. Computer programming was not a class that I was interested in and I was planning on switching out of it as soon as I could. This changed very quickly as we got into the subject and I realized how much I loved it and how much I enjoyed Lach as a teacher. Lach was not teaching us simply how to program, but he was teaching us a completely different way to think altogether. I decided to keep the class, at first reluctantly, and then realized how much I loved it. I ended up taking every class that Lach taught, including many different programming languages. It was not even that I liked computers particularly, but I liked the way he taught and what he had to offer in his lessons.
To my delight, partway through freshman year, my class was assigned our class advisor and it was Lach. As an advisor, he played the biggest role in my life. Through all of our class activities, he taught us teamwork, cooperation, pride, commitment, and integrity. Because of him, our class meshed like no other. At our annual Winter Carnival, a competition between all the classes at my school, my class won sophomore year, breaking the precedent that seniors always win. We could only win because of all of the hours that Lach put in, helping us to prepare and teaching us the importance of not giving up. We came together so much as a class that year under his guidance and won Winter Carnival every year following that first win. Though we didn’t realize it, we learned so many valuable life lessons from him that helped us to become better people.
My senior year, he took the position of varsity volleyball coach, moving up from his one-year stint as JV coach. We were a rough bunch, with a dismal record of 2 wins and 18 losses the previous season. Because of tension with our old coach, none of us were willing to improve our volleyball skills and none of us knew how to win. This changed once Lach started coaching us. With half hour conditioning sessions at the beginning of each practice, we grew stronger and closer as a team. If he saw that one of us was having difficulty with a particular skill, he would spend extra time with us until we worked it out. I finally learned how to serve from him after four years of struggle with that skill. He gave us the motto “Refuse to Lose,” telling us that under no circumstances should we let another team beat us. If they were truly better than us, good for them, but we could not give up until we had absolutely nothing left to give. He told us to not only bring this motto to the court, but to us it in every day life. After making it to districts for the first time in the history of Douglas varsity volleyball, I was proud to be captain of such an awesome team, knowing that we could not be where we were without the guidance of Lach. My team made it to district semi-finals that year, and I still live by the motto Refuse to Lose.
Lach got to know each of us on a personal level, beyond being his students, or players on his team. When our class went to Disney World on our senior trip, he took all of the class officers out to lunch one day. As we all took our wallets out to pay for our part of the meal, he made us put them away and treated us, as a thank you for such a great four years. It should have been us doing him the favor. At baccalaureate, the night before graduation, he promised us that we would all cry as he made his last speech to us as a class. True to his word, he delivered such a moving speech and there was not a dry eye in the place. At graduation, he and a few other teachers who are in a band together played our graduation song as we turned our tassels and threw our caps in the air. He, along with the members of my class, cried as that chapter of our life ended.
Without Mr. LaChapelle, I would not have had such a positive high school experience. He was a teacher, a mentor, a coach, and a friend. I learned more from him about life than I did about computer programming or volleyball. He taught me to be a caring and kind individual, to be a team player, and to never give up. He is an all around wonderful man and I am so grateful for his guidance throughout high school.
EDC102H
High School Experiences
High school can be tough for many people. Those four years can shape your outlook on life and your future in very dramatic ways. Luckily for me, I had a very positive high school experience. I loved almost every minute that I spent in those halls with some of the best people I know. This is not to say that I did not have bad experiences as well, but the good definitely outweighed the bad. Much of the positivity of my high school experience came from Mr. LaChapelle, my favorite teacher and role model.
Mr. LaChapelle, or simply Lach, as most of us called him, first came into my life freshman year as my computer programming teacher. Computer programming was not a class that I was interested in and I was planning on switching out of it as soon as I could. This changed very quickly as we got into the subject and I realized how much I loved it and how much I enjoyed Lach as a teacher. Lach was not teaching us simply how to program, but he was teaching us a completely different way to think altogether. I decided to keep the class, at first reluctantly, and then realized how much I loved it. I ended up taking every class that Lach taught, including many different programming languages. It was not even that I liked computers particularly, but I liked the way he taught and what he had to offer in his lessons.
To my delight, partway through freshman year, my class was assigned our class advisor and it was Lach. As an advisor, he played the biggest role in my life. Through all of our class activities, he taught us teamwork, cooperation, pride, commitment, and integrity. Because of him, our class meshed like no other. At our annual Winter Carnival, a competition between all the classes at my school, my class won sophomore year, breaking the precedent that seniors always win. We could only win because of all of the hours that Lach put in, helping us to prepare and teaching us the importance of not giving up. We came together so much as a class that year under his guidance and won Winter Carnival every year following that first win. Though we didn’t realize it, we learned so many valuable life lessons from him that helped us to become better people.
My senior year, he took the position of varsity volleyball coach, moving up from his one-year stint as JV coach. We were a rough bunch, with a dismal record of 2 wins and 18 losses the previous season. Because of tension with our old coach, none of us were willing to improve our volleyball skills and none of us knew how to win. This changed once Lach started coaching us. With half hour conditioning sessions at the beginning of each practice, we grew stronger and closer as a team. If he saw that one of us was having difficulty with a particular skill, he would spend extra time with us until we worked it out. I finally learned how to serve from him after four years of struggle with that skill. He gave us the motto “Refuse to Lose,” telling us that under no circumstances should we let another team beat us. If they were truly better than us, good for them, but we could not give up until we had absolutely nothing left to give. He told us to not only bring this motto to the court, but to us it in every day life. After making it to districts for the first time in the history of Douglas varsity volleyball, I was proud to be captain of such an awesome team, knowing that we could not be where we were without the guidance of Lach. My team made it to district semi-finals that year, and I still live by the motto Refuse to Lose.
Lach got to know each of us on a personal level, beyond being his students, or players on his team. When our class went to Disney World on our senior trip, he took all of the class officers out to lunch one day. As we all took our wallets out to pay for our part of the meal, he made us put them away and treated us, as a thank you for such a great four years. It should have been us doing him the favor. At baccalaureate, the night before graduation, he promised us that we would all cry as he made his last speech to us as a class. True to his word, he delivered such a moving speech and there was not a dry eye in the place. At graduation, he and a few other teachers who are in a band together played our graduation song as we turned our tassels and threw our caps in the air. He, along with the members of my class, cried as that chapter of our life ended.
Without Mr. LaChapelle, I would not have had such a positive high school experience. He was a teacher, a mentor, a coach, and a friend. I learned more from him about life than I did about computer programming or volleyball. He taught me to be a caring and kind individual, to be a team player, and to never give up. He is an all around wonderful man and I am so grateful for his guidance throughout high school.